Ferdinand Steinhauser

Ferdinand Steinhauser (born April 5, 1905 in Schrattenthal ; † October 3, 1991 in Vienna ) was an Austrian climatologist , meteorologist and director of the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG) in Vienna.

Career

Steinhauser studied mathematics , physics , meteorology and geophysics at the University of Vienna . In the academic year 1928/29 he passed the teaching examination for mathematics and physics. On January 1, 1929, he began his meteorological work as a research assistant at the chair for Earth Physics with Felix Maria von Exner-Ewarten at the University of Vienna.

After Exner's death, Wilhelm Matthäus Schmidt (1883–1936) became director of the ZAMG and Steinhauser became a research assistant at this institution with effect from December 1, 1930.

In 1933 he received his doctorate from the University of Vienna with the thesis " On the elastic deformations of the earth's crust due to local loads with special consideration of the snow loads in the Alps " and in 1936 became the ZAMG's scientific assistant. Steinhauser, who had taken an early interest in the climatology of the alpine region, completed his habilitation with the thesis " The Meteorology of the Sonnblick " at the University of Vienna.

Military service during the Second World War interrupted his academic work from 1940 to 1945. As early as July 1945, the development work at ZAMG awaited him. As early as October 1945, weather forecasts were regularly published on the radio and in the newspapers.

In 1948 Steinhauser became associate professor for weather and climate theory at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna and in 1949 honorary lecturer for weather and climate science at the Technical University of Vienna .

In 1953 he was appointed full professor for Earth Physics at the University of Vienna. At the same time, Steinhauser was entrusted with the management of ZAMG as director. He held both functions until his retirement in 1976. In the academic year 1961/62 he was dean of the philosophical faculty and between 1967 and 1970 a member of the Academic Senate of the University of Vienna.

Under his leadership, the ZAMG was expanded into a service company for the public and a modern institute for meteorological, seismic and geophysical research. In 1957, a house on the neighboring property was acquired and subsequently adapted for office purposes; Between 1967 and 1973 a radar tower , a balloon filling house and a new office building with specialist libraries were built in two construction stages on the premises of the Central Institute. The Institute for Meteorology and Geophysics also experienced significant personnel expansions through his efforts.

Scientific importance

Steinhauser wrote over 200 scientific papers covering a broad spectrum of meteorological and climatological research. Steinhauser was one of the first to work in the field of environmental meteorology . He wrote numerous papers on this, such as on urban climatology and on climatic fluctuations in the Alpine region.

The environmental pollution , which would gain in importance years later, found his interest and is part of his scientific work, such as the radioactivity of the air, air pollution and atmospheric cloudiness . He founded a department for air chemistry at ZAMG and was able to prove how meteorological conditions influenced the spread of sulfur dioxide in the urban area of ​​Vienna and Graz. His work on wind directions and strengths in Austria at different times of the day and year and on solar radiation created the basis for the use of renewable energies and provided the necessary measurement data.

Awards

• 1974: Great Silver Medal of Honor for Services to the Republic of Austria
• 1976: Wilhelm Exner Medal
• 1976: Erwin Schrödinger Prize of the Austrian Academy of Sciences
• 1980: Gold Medal of Honor of the Federal Capital Vienna

Publications (selection)

• “ The Meteorology of the Sonnblick, Part I. Contributions to high mountain meteorology based on the results of 50 years of observations by the Sonnblick observatory, 3106 m. “, Springer-Verlag Vienna , 1938, ISBN 978-3-662-24043-4
• " XLVIII. Annual report of the Sonnblick Association for 1950 ”, Springer-Verlag Vienna, 1952, ISBN 978-3-7091-4686-6
• “ The attempts to ward off hail in Austria and general remarks on the problem of combating hail ” (with W. Friedrich) - “Simposio Intern. sulla Fisica delle Nubi a relative Applicazioni all 'Agricultura Asti ”, pp. 124-135, 1958.
• " Problems of weather forecast ", Springer-Verlag Vienna, 1966, ISBN 978-3-211-80778-1
• “ Distribution of the frequencies of wind directions and wind strengths in Austria at different times of the day and year ” - work from the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics, Issue 53, Vienna 1982

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ferdinand Steinhauser in the archive of the Federal Geological Institute, Vienna , accessed on August 28, 2016
2. ^ Ferdinand Steinhauser on the website of the Wilhelm Exner Medal Foundation , accessed on August 28, 2016
3. ^ Ferdinand Steinhauser, Awards in the Vienna History Wiki of the City of Vienna